Five key projects by German architect and Dezeen Awards China judge Ole Scheeren
German architect Ole Scheeran has joined Dezeen Awards China 2023 as a judge. Here, he selects five projects that best reflect his work.
Submit your project before the final entry deadline at midnight Beijing time on 31 August for your final chance to win.
Architecture practice Büro Ole Scheeren has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, London and Berlin. Principal Scheeren considers architecture "a matrix of hybrid narratives from which we can construct future realities."
"Our large-scale projects are complemented by independent collaborations with filmmakers and artists, as well as research projects exploring my personal interests in cinema, media, and narrative space," Scheeren told Dezeen.
"Our projects serve as prototypes, engaging new conceptual possibilities and explicitly manifesting how the spaces in which we live and work can be reimagined," he continued.
"From city-defining structures to intimate spaces, our work embodies a rigorous search for new potentials to realise specific and unexpected solutions inhabited by the lives of people and cities."
Ole Scheeren among Dezeen Awards China 2023 judges
Dezeen Awards China 2023 launched earlier this year in partnership with Bentley Motors. It is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, celebrating the best architecture, interiors and design in China.
The latest judges to be announced include architect Garett Hwang from UNStudio, Dutch designer Carole Baijings, X+Living founder Xiang Li and interior designer Kelly Wearstler.
Enter before the final deadline on 31 August at midnight Beijing time.
Read on to find Scheeran's views on the five projects that best represent his work:
Shenzhen Wave, Shenzhen, China
"Shenzhen Wave, the new headquarters for ZTE, one of China's leading telecommunications and technology companies, is located at the entry to the Shenzhen Bay Super HQ masterplan in southern China.
"A sinuous diagonal 'wave' cuts through the building and links its multiple levels, lifting the structure off the ground and cresting up through the roof.
"This key element becomes an open and experiential pathway through the building for light, views, and circulation, encouraging spontaneous encounters between users throughout the structure.
"The building will become a dynamic organism synthesising spaces for formal and informal work, research, innovation, and retreat into a completely new type of architecture for the city."
"Rather than creating a pair of separated towers, the hotels are stacked on top of one another, thereby occupying a smaller footprint and liberating large parts of the natural landscape on the ground.
"This strategic manoeuvre allows the combined massing to be more structurally and ecologically efficient and creates a memorable and iconic silhouette along Sanya's shoreline.
"Sanya Horizons' stacked horizontal volumes are planimetrically curved to embrace the ocean and further enhance the abundant vistas, with every hotel room given its own private terrace and 100 per cent unobstructed sea views.
"Through the offsets and openings between the volumes, a wide spectrum of natural plantings and gardens emerges throughout the building, almost doubling the amount of green space on the site."
Find out more about Sanya Horizons ›
Fifteen Fifteen, Vancouver, Canada
"A system of vertically shifted apartment modules enables dynamic yet rational and efficient layouts for residential units. The horizontal rotation of these modular elements projects living spaces outwards to introduce the concept of horizontal living in a slender high-rise.
"The resulting multiple terraces generated from these horizontal shifts create a physical connectivity between the indoor and outdoor environment.
"Fifteen Fifteen presents a carefully crafted distinctive silhouette that reaches out to engage the space of the city and stands as a new beacon that activates the skyline.
"The tower opens up to embrace both city and nature in a three-dimensional sculpture, respecting views to and from neighbouring buildings, and maximising unobstructed views to the surrounding water, parks, and city."
Find out more about Fifteen Fifteen ›
Empire City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
"Empire City, a spectacular ensemble of high-rise towers and public spaces, is set to become a new focal point of Ho Chi Minh City, sculpting a symbiotic vision of nature and living within the space of the city.
"Three skyscrapers will soar above a mountain-shaped, garden-like podium, with the central Empire 88 Tower reaching a height of almost 400 meters. Its 88 floors will encompass residences, apartments, a hotel and a public observation deck.
"Breaking open the shaft of the tower and projecting vertical gardens at towering heights, the expressively undulating platforms of the 'Sky Forest' will elevate the podium's urban landscape into the sky.
"Hovering terraces will cantilever in manifold directions around the tower's central axis, reaching out into the urban context and the peninsula's natural surroundings."
Find out more about Empire City ›
Guardian Art Center, Beijing, China
"A hybrid of art, culture, event and lifestyle that embodies the multi-faceted overlapping realities of the contemporary art world.
"The 'pixelated' volumes of the lower portion of the building subtly refer to the adjacent historic urban fabric, echoing the grain, colour and intricate scale of Beijing's hutongs.
"The Guardian Art Center represents a new hybrid concept for a cultural institution that transcends the traditional definitions of a contemporary art space.
"Merging the display and presentation of art in its museum spaces with the multifunctional capacities of its exhibition and auction rooms allows virtually any type of usage and event to occur."
Find out more about Guardian Art Center ›
All images are courtesy of Büro Ole Scheeran.
Dezeen Awards China 2023
Dezeen Awards China is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, to celebrate the best architecture, interiors and design in China. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent.